the laws of the world tell us what goes sky
by callmesandy
Summary: Out of nowhere MJ said, "So if someone shot you in the head, you would die, right?" "Yeah," Peter said. "Sure. Why are you, do you have a gun?"


not mine, no profit garnered. title from beyonce's superpower. for the trope bingo spot secret identities. thanks a!

Peter let MJ pick the agenda for their first date. He'd genuinely tried to think of something cool but May said he was overthinking it, a lot. So he gave up and just asked MJ what she wanted to do.

He started to list his ideas culled straight from four listicles and two magazines and she just kept looking at him until he stopped. "Okay, that's sweet, but that's all too much."

"I know," Peter said. "How about food? Like, pizza or Thai, or sushi? I don't really love sushi. I feel like I should offer it. I could overcome my dislike."

"Ethiopian," she said firmly.

Peter wished he had his suit on. Karen had to have restaurant recommendations, she was synced up to the Stark Industries servers.

"Injera," MJ said. "It has a lot of good reviews, but my dad and I went last year and it was actually really good." She looked down at their hands on the table. "I can pay."

"No, I asked you, I can cover it. Of course. Tonight, six PM. I'll pick you up? Like walk to your place."

"We can meet there," MJ said. She got up and said, "Cool, I'll see you there."

They technically had another class and he had been thinking of walking her home or to the subway but now he figured he should skip class to honor her declaration. He was hovering in the hallway when Ned drifted by and said, "Come on, dude."

She was sitting in her usual seat and he could see her so he waved awkwardly. She waved back.

xxx

He was staring at his closet like the perfect outfit would appear. He was also googling the restaurant so he could figure out how much money he needed and then how to get there. He wondered how far away the place was from where MJ lived. He actually didn't know where she lived. He knew she took the subway. Which eliminated nothing.

Naturally, Mr. Stark called. Peter said, "Hey, hey, please don't tell me there's an emergency, I have plans tonight, very important plans."

"Well, if they're very important, then we'll reschedule the army of robot zombies," Mr. Stark said.

"Really? Robot zombies?"

"No, of course not," Mr. Stark said. "I'm just checking in, seeing how you're doing. Responsible mentoring. What are these important plans?"

"Oh, nothing, they're not that important," Peter said. He looked down and hit the wrong button and then his phone was giving him instructions to Injera.

"Not important Greenwich village restaurant plans, huh?"

"It's a date, okay? A date."

Mr. Stark laughed and then stopped. "You know, you can tell me these things. I know you have it all nailed down in the female parent department but if you need advice, I can refer, I might not be able to help that much but, honestly, I could talk to Rhodey. I could have him call you. You've met him."

"No, I'm good. All covered," Peter said.

"Injera is great, though, I can get you reservations, when are you going?"

"Tonight at six," Peter said. "But you don't have to, I think we'll be okay."

"No problem," Tony said. "Hey, is this the girl that figured out you're Spiderman?"

Peter sighed. "Yes, that's her." Tony was the only person he'd told the full story because the story made him look like a total idiot. The version he told Ned had made him sound much more suave and much less concussed. Not that he was blaming the concussion.

But there had been an explosion right outside school. The school all his friends attended and specifically MJ. Plus, probable concussion. He was so scared and he just ended up rambling to her and he'd said, "I don't know how to say it -"

"You say 'I am Spiderman.'"

But luckily it turned out that she liked him, too, aside from the Spiderman thing. And now they had a date.

"What should I wear, Mr. Stark?"

"Okay, I just said I would refer all advice to Rhodey. Even clothes. I actually have a stylist. I could loan you the stylist? Or not, that's too much. Your aunt would kill me. You know I never went to real high school, right? I had private tutors and boarding schools until I started at college when I was thirteen," Mr. Stark said. "Jarvis's wife took care of my clothing back then. Great lady."

"Okay, great," Peter said. "Got it."

"I know when I'm being blown off," Tony said. "Enjoy your date. Reservations taken care of. Don't be late."

"Thanks," Peter said.

He decided on jeans. And a nice sweater. And just because he rolled up his suit into his backpack.

He got there five minutes early but MJ was already waiting outside. He smiled and said, "Hey, were you waiting long? I'm sorry, I tried to be here early."

"You are early," MJ said. "So was I."

Mr. Stark really had made reservations so they had a great table. The waiters were super nice, too, but MJ said that was how they always are. "That's how they were when I came here," she said. She smiled a little.

The food was seriously great. Out of nowhere she said, "So if someone shot you in the head, you would die, right?"

"Yeah," Peter said. "Sure. Why are you, do you have a gun?"

"No, of course not," she said. "I was just wondering. I know you heal really fast. But you can't heal from getting decapitated, or stabbed in the heart, right?"

"I assume so," Peter said. "I hope that doesn't happen."

"Me, too," she said. "But I like to know, I need to know details. To be precise. It's probably a character flaw. You know? It's important. I guess you couldn't get poisoned either, at least not the usual ones."

"What are the usual ones?"

"You know, rat poison, botulism, cyanide," MJ said. She took a big bite of her food. It wasn't that surprising that talking about death and dismemberment made MJ hungry.

"Those," Peter said. "I don't know. I've never been poisoned. I got shot once, but you can't tell May."

"You got shot?" She paused and looked a little appalled. "That's not good."

"Oh, it was a long time ago. Before I even met Mr. Stark. I just got winged, like on the arm." He pointed to the spot and pushed up his sleeve. "But it totally healed. You can't even see the mark."

"Good," MJ said. "Weren't you freaked out?"

"Yes. I was. I'm pretty much freaked out a lot of the time," Peter said. "It's not all fun and super swinging games."

"But parts are fun," she said.

"Definitely," Peter said. "But mostly it's a lot of freaking out and trying to make things work and trying to save people, all of that."

"Even though you could get stabbed and die," MJ said.

"Yup, but that hasn't happened yet," Peter said. "No close encounters with botulism either."

"Although Botox has been shown to be effective fighting migraines. Along with turning women's faces into unmoving masks like the patriarchy wants. So we can never be angry."

"I respect angry women," Peter said.

MJ smiled at him. "Yeah," she said and looked down.

"Do you want to keep talking about how I can die?"

"No, we've covered most of my questions there," she said, still looking down. "Do you ever talk to Tony Stark about his invasive technology? Like, he's right up there with Facebook in terms of privacy rights and ignoring that."

"We have, actually," Peter said. "But I can ask him to stay away from you, if you want."

"Cool," MJ said. "I have more questions. I feel I need to know. But maybe they can wait."

"They don't have to," Peter said.

Xxx

After they ate, it turned out Tony had actually paid for everything. "Which means if you wanna get an Uber or something, I can afford that," Peter said.

"I don't like supporting the gig economy exploitation of people. We can take the subway."

"Good point," Peter said.

"Do you want to talk about grotesque crimes that have happened on the subway?" She looked nervous.

"We don't have to with that one," Peter said.

"Right," MJ said. Their train came. They settled in and she reached over and took his hand. "Don't stick to me."

"I have better control than that," he said. He squeezed her hand. Not too hard.

They sat in silence, but it was nice silence. Companionable.

She said, "Sorry about all the questions. It seems kinda unfair that I know so much about you." She looked straight ahead and not at him. She said, "I know about your parents and your uncle and you being Spiderman. So, to be fair, when I was nine, the people in the apartment below us were both murdered. We didn't know them. I didn't know them. But we saw the bodies. It was really awful. And then, basically, not because of that specifically but because of a lot of things, but also because of that, my mom was like, she realized she didn't want to be a parent or married. It wasn't personal." MJ looked at him really quick and then went back to staring straight ahead.

"She lives in Arizona now," MJ said. "She seems happy. And it wasn't because of me that she wasn't happy. I'm not an idiot. So it's basically me and my dad. He's an artist. He's been in the Whitney Biennial twice."

"That's impressive," Peter said.

"It is," MJ said. "My dad is the black parent, by the way. If you were wondering."

Peter said, "I wasn't. I did not assume or think anything."

She laughed a little. She squeezed his hand this time. "White mom, Black dad. He does bookkeeping, though. To make a living. Freelance or temporary jobs. He doesn't like being too tied down job wise. So he has time for his art."

"Which is good, which is why the Whitney Biennial," Peter said. He wondered how much more MJ was going to blurt out.

MJ finally looked at him. Then she let go of his hand so she could hold on to his shoulders and pull him close and kiss him. He really liked that part. They kissed for a while with tiny stops to breathe. They kissed for the rest of the train part of their commute. Then they got off the train in between a lot of blushing and back to holding hands and letting go of hands. He really wanted to kiss her again. He said, "Which bus? I know my bus, but I actually don't know your bus."

She told him and he said, "Okay, I'll go with you. And then I can just, you know, get myself home. The other way. Not Uber."

"You're going to swing home," she said without emphasis.

"You betcha," he said. "But first, you."

They got on her bus and they had to stand. So much less holding hands and more smiling at each other. He glared at a few people who were looking at her funny. She said, "You don't look intimidating when you do that. You look young."

"And menacing," he said.

"Not at all," she said.

He got off the bus with her and they walked a few blocks. It was a nice neighborhood. He'd never really been there during his "work." He said, "Is this actually where you live or is it a few blocks away?"

"I'm not saying," she said. She stopped in front of an apartment building. He kissed her again and she kissed him back. She was wearing boots with a heel so she was definitely taller than him. He definitely found that hot.

He said, "Okay, goodnight. I hope this is your place."

"I'm not telling," she said.

He walked away and waited until he hit the corner to look back. She was gone so either she did live there or she'd ducked away pretty quick. Someday she'd let him in to see her place.


End file.
